This invention relates to a ceiling fan and, in one aspect, to a structure for retaining fasteners in an aperture of a fan element such that the fasteners can be rotated but not removed from the fan element.
Ceiling fans are very popular devices for cooling an environment, either indoors or outdoors. The typical ceiling fan has a plurality of fan blades which are attached to fan blade arms secured to a center hub which is rotated. Typically, the fan blade arms are attached to the center hub using a plurality of screws which must be inserted through holes in the fan blade arm and engaged with the center hub. In this arrangement, attachment of the blade arms to the center hub is tedious and time consuming, as the plurality of screws are free to fall out of the holes in the fan blade arm until they are engaged with the center hub. Further, if the fan blade arms are being attached to a fan motor which has already been mounted to a ceiling structure, the fan blade arms must be held in proper registration with respect to the center hub while the plurality of fasteners are inserted through the holes in the fan blade arms and engaged with the center hub. A need exists for an inexpensive, efficient and reliable structure for avoiding the problems and inconvenience associated with the current arrangement now being used.
The present invention is a structure for retaining one or more fasteners in one or more corresponding apertures in a fan element.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention has a structure for retaining one or more fasteners in one or more corresponding apertures of a first fan element so that, as the first fan element is attached to a second fan element by engaging the fasteners with the second fan element, the fasteners cannot inadvertently fall out of the apertures. The first fan element can thus be attached to the second fan element without the installer having to insert fasteners through apertures in the first fan element while maintaining registration between the first fan element and the second fan element.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the first fan element is a fan blade arm and the second fan element is a fan center hub.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, one or more of the fasteners are machine screws.